Homeowners will be required to reach deeper inside their pockets to pay for a real Christmas tree this season as a result of lower supplies which are adding to a 10% hike in prices over a year ago, The New York Times reports. “We’re not going to be short; everybody looking for a real tree will be able to get one,” says Doug Hundley, a spokesman for the National Christmas Tree Association. “But it is a tight market, and prices will rise.”
The reason why Christmas Trees Are More expensive This Season
Even though the average buyer spent $36.50 on a Christmas tree in 2008, that figure jumped to $74.70 in 2016. Fewer consumers purchased Christmas trees throughout the financial crisis in 2008, and growers responded by cutting down fewer trees to sell. As a result, there’s less space to plant replacements-which has the effect of smaller selections today, the Times reports. “It’s not like buying plastic cups. You can’t just turn a tree out in a factory,” says Darren Nicholson, assistant manager at the Boyd Mountain Christmas Tree Farm in Waynesville, N.C. “Once you cut it, you have to wait 10 years to replace it.”
Also, you’ll find fewer farmers growing firs, spruces, and pines for the holidays. Oregon, the top state for tree exports, has witnessed the amount of licensed growers drop from 699 in 2010 to 392 today. Further, droughts and the latest wildfires have limited the choices at tree farms. Buyers who hold off until mid-December might have limited selections, Hundley warns.
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